1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording apparatus and a liquid ejecting apparatus which include an ink cartridge for supplying ink drops to a recording head which is provided separately from a carriage.
Here, the liquid ejecting apparatus is not limited to a recording apparatus which employs an inkjet type recording head for performing recording on a recording medium by ejecting ink from the recording head such as a printer, copier, facsimile, etc. but also includes an apparatus for ejecting liquid, in place of ink, onto a liquid ejection medium, a counterpart of the recording medium, from a liquid ejecting head, a counterpart of the inkjet type recording head, and putting the liquid on the liquid ejection medium.
As the liquid ejecting head, besides the recording head, there are a color material ejecting head used for manufacture of a color filter such as a liquid crystal display, an electrode material (conductive paste) ejecting head used for manufacture of an electrode such as an organic EL display or field emission display (FED), a bioorganic material ejecting head for used for manufacture of a biochip, a sample ejecting head as a minute pipette, etc.
2. Related Art
An inkjet printer as a recording apparatus includes an inkjet type recording head for ejecting ink drops which is mounted on a carriage reciprocating in a main scanning direction. Here in the inkjet printer an ink cartridge for supplying ink drops to the inkjet type recording head is detachably provided, where the ink cartridge is not mounted on the carriage, but is fixed to the apparatus body side of the inkjet printer separately from the carriage as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Publication (Laid-Open) No. 2002-154245. In such configuration, the ink cartridge and the inkjet type recording head are connected via an ink tube of plasticity. By this configuration, it is possible to make the capacity of the ink cartridge large, as well as making the carriage small in size and light in weight and improving drive precision.
Here, if a plurality of ink cartridges in response to a plurality of colors are arranged above a main scanning area of the carriage, since the transfer path of the recording medium is generally positioned below the carriage, there occurs a problem that if any trouble happens to the transfer path, the ink cartridges provided above the main scanning area of the carriage become obstacles, so it is difficult to perform maintenance work. For example, if a paper happens to jam, there occurs a problem that the ink cartridges become obstacles, so it is difficult to perform the work of eliminating the paper which jams.